Content:

(CCC, BBB, Ab, Pa, CapCap, LL, VV, AA, DD, M) Very strong Christian worldview includes the entire Lord’s Prayer and many overt references to Jesus Christ at homeless shelter and by different people who try to help deranged lead character, the schizophrenic lead character calls a reporter trying to help him God and believes that the reporter is God for a while, the reporter is furious about that, the reporter goes from unbelieving to open about faith at the end, one character is an atheist but the reporter makes fun of him, and some other eclectic comments, plus a strong defense of capitalism and the Christian approach to helping other people, from a very strong Christian perspective; 21 obscenities, three profanities and man urinates and trips on urine and man has to clean up coyote urine; some very intense violence in a few places including homeless woman has a bloody death from an overdose, homeless people beat each other up, homeless man beats up reporter, police clear out homeless people, and homeless man starts to attack musician using a club with nails in it; no sex; no nudity; a lot of alcohol use and drunkenness; drug use and people are hooked on psychiatric drugs for mental problems; and, reporter finds out he can’t save the world, another reporter bashes capitalism, and Los Angeles mayor gives money for homeless rebuked.

Summary:

Based on a true story, THE SOLOIST stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx in a story about a Los Angeles reporter who, in the process of trying to help a homeless, mentally unstable musical prodigy, learns about grace, faith and love. THE SOLOIST is an inspirational movie with strong performances by Foxx and Downey with a surprisingly strong Christian worldview, but the movie tries to be too edgy and contains too much gratuitous foul language and too many weird, disjointed moments that don’t work.

Review:

THE SOLOIST is too often a weird movie. It has a lot of Christian content and a coming to faith storyline. Ultimately, it has a lot of conservative content. The plot, however, is often very disjointed. And, there are moments that are just out of touch with reality.

Steve Lopez is an ace reporter for the L.A. Times who discovers a down-and-out homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless black man played by Jamie Foxx who beautifully plays his damaged violin, which only has two strings. Nathaniel tells Steve he went to Julliard. Steve decides he has a great story at last.

Steve’s life has fallen apart. His wife, also a reporter, has left him, and his son doesn’t return his calls. To salvage his own life, Steve begins to see himself as the answer to Nathaniel’s problem. Nathaniel, however, is certifiably schizophrenic. He does not want to be saved. He does not want to live in an apartment. He prefers living on the street. Steve, however, works hard to get Nathaniel to come to a homeless shelter, to take him to a private concert by the L./A. Philharmonic, and to try to give him a recital. High society turns out for Nathaniel’s recital, but he goes bonkers and tries to club one of the other musicians.

THE SOLOIST is an inspirational movie with strong performances by Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The music is uplifting. Best of all, it has a very strong Christian worldview that could reach many people.

In the process of trying to save Nathaniel, Steve learns about grace and faith and that he is not the Savior, but can be a friend. He also learns that the people who help the homeless are the Missions and the Christians. David, who runs The Lamp Mission, has a big sign on the building, “The wages of sin are death; God’s gift is eternal life.” David believes the homeless have been over-psycho-analyzed and need faith, not more psychobabble.

When Steve’s articles become the talk of the town, the mayor goes on a program to help the homeless. The program entails the police rounding up the homeless in a brutal sweep. Thus, government is not the solution. The movie even has one point where Steve makes fun of an atheist.

The problem with this movie is that it tries to be edgy. There’s a lot of gratuitous foul language, some intense brutality, and some strange, dreamlike effects when the music is playing. Parts of the movie forget the plot entirely and deal just with Steve’s reflections or problems. At one point, the movie becomes downright weird. This is a sign of over-indulgent directing.

The storyline of THE SOLOIST is very similar to THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD, but BUCK HOWARD had the good sense to have a very clear, clean plot. Regrettably, THE SOLOIST does not.

THE SOLOIST is to be commended for its Christian content, but extreme caution is advised for the foul language, and it’s doubtful it will be a crowd pleaser with its mixed-up storyline. The artistic community may learn something about Christians, government and Jesus Christ by watching it.

In Brief:

Based on a true story, THE SOLOIST stars Robert Downey, Jr., as Los Angeles reporter Steve Lopez. Steve’s life has fallen apart. His wife has left him. His son doesn’t return his calls. Steve stumbles upon Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless black man played by Jamie Foxx who beautifully plays his damaged violin, which only has two strings. Steve learns that mental problems have damaged this musical prodigy. He decides to help Nathaniel, but that proves to be more difficult than Steve realized. In the process, Steve learns about grace and faith and that he is not the Savior, but can be a friend.

THE SOLOIST is an inspirational movie with strong performances by Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The music is uplifting. Best of all, it has a very strong Christian worldview that could reach many people. The problem with the movie is that it tries to be too edgy. Thus, there is a significant amount of gratuitous foul language and some intense violence and strange, dreamlike effects. Parts of the movie forget the plot entirely and deal just with Steve’s problems. At one point, the movie becomes downright weird.